Humber, Ford & Stoke Prior s1

Humber, Ford & Stoke Prior DRAFT – subject to Group Parish Council confirmation

Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Group Parish Council held on Wednesday 21 May 2014 at 7.30pm in Stoke Prior Village Hall

Present: Cllr Alan Bathurst Cllr Mrs Margaret Bemand Cllr Mrs Jenny Ellerton (to Minute 56/14) Cllr Mrs Jane Hinton (to Minute 51/14) Cllr Michael Hubbard Cllr William Jackson Cllr Peter Lefroy-Owen (from Minute 47/14) With: District Cllr Jeremy Millar. Officer in attendance: Mr Philip Brown (Clerk).

36/14 Election of Chairman (The past-Chairman, Cllr William Jackson presided for this item.) (a) Cllr William Jackson was elected as Chairman for the period until the next Annual Meeting. (b) Received: the elected Chairman’s Declaration of Acceptance of Office (Minutes Annexe 36/14).

37/14 Election of vice-chairman Cllr Peter Lefroy-Owen was elected as Vice-Chairman for the period until the next Annual Meeting.

38/14 Apologies for absence Received and accepted: apologies for absence from Cllr Kenneth Bemand.

39/14 Declaration of interests and dispensations (a) No declarations of interest were made. (b) No applications for dispensations under Standing Order 55 were received.

40/14 Minutes of the last meeting Resolved: to approve the minutes of the Meeting held on 19 March 2014.

41/14 Chairman’s Announcements Noted: The sale of The Lamb Inn to a publican had been agreed, and completion of the sale was expected shortly. The Chairman and Cllr Bathurst had met the prospective new owner who intended to re-open the pub following necessary repairs and refurbishment. He had been invited to attend the Annual Parish Meeting on 28 May 2014. The meeting expressed its satisfaction at the good news.

42/14 Public participation There were no members of the public present.

43/14 Annual reports 2013-14 (a) Received: an oral report from the past-Chairman, Cllr Jackson, noting that the Council was doing more than ever before, as shown by the 21 meetings of Council and committees, not including working party meetings for The Lamb and the Neighbourhood Development Plan. He thanked all members of the Council, committees and working parties for their work over the past twelve months. (b) Received: a report from the Clerk (Minutes Annexe 43/14b) including: council meetings and attendance of councillors; policies and procedures; the Clerk’s work; website and administrative matters; Neighbourhood Development Plan progress; planning applications; The Lamb Inn, Flooding and Community Resilience Planning; the Lengthsman and Winter Maintenance schemes; highway and rights-of-way defects. (c) Received: an oral report from Cllr Michael Hubbard, representative on Stoke Prior Village Hall Committee and Chairman of that committee: There had been many events during the year including Flicks in the Sticks, the summer supper, the Great British Quiz, the Music Quiz and Race Night; the regular use of the hall by others including the Council, church, and other local groups. He thanked all committee members, especially David and Doreen Bromley who had stepped down after more than ten years’ service to the Hall, and Magda Praill who was remaining on the committee to assist with funding applications. Over £600 each year was raised by the rag-bag bin. A grant had been obtained to replace the projector which had failed. The proposed car-park project was not going ahead because of the HF&SP minutes 21/05/14 Volume VIII page 1 excessive cost of building this and the problems of access which would still remain; the Committee was trying to get a grant to replace the exterior asbestos, but was hoping that in the longer-term the Neighbourhood Development Plan would generate a more suitable new site for the Hall. He concluded by reminding local people that the Hall could be hired by them for £6 per hour. (d) Received: an oral report from Cllr Margaret Bemand, representative on Humber Parish Room (Risbury Village Hall) Committee: the hall continued to be well-supported by the local community and the committee had organised numerous events including barbecues, two extremely well-supported pub evenings, a Halloween party, and village carol-singing. The hall was also well used by other local groups including the Gardening Club and its annual Risbury Show, St Mary’s church, the Council, and as a polling station. She thanked the Committee and also the Morris family for mowing the grass, and encouraged local people to use the Hall as much as possible. (e) Noted: District Councillor Jeremy Millar provided monthly reports to the Council which were published in the Parish Pump.

44/14 Statement of Accounts and Annual Return for 2013-14 (a) Received: a report from the Responsible Financial Officer (Minutes Annexe 44/14a). (b) Resolved: to approve the Statement of Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2014 (Minutes Annexe 44/14b). Noted: The apparent large surplus of £11,000 for the year was due to the two grants for work on the Neighbourhood Development Plan having been paid to the Council in March – these funds would be spent during 2014-15. (c) Resolved: to approve the Bank Reconciliation Statement for the year ended 31 March 2014 (Minutes Annexe 44/14c). (d) Resolved: to approve the Accounting Statement and Annual Governance Statement and for the year ended 31 March 2014 to be submitted to the external auditors (Minutes Annexe 44/14d).

45/14 Review of Standing Orders (a) Reported: new Standing Orders were adopted in May 2013 and an amendment to the Planning Committee’s role adopted in March 2014. The Clerk had kept the Standing Orders under review and had no further changes to recommend. (b) Noted: the Clerk would circulate all Councillors with paper copies of the revised Standing Orders.

46/14 Review of Financial Regulations Resolved: that the standing Finance Working Group should review the Financial Regulations and Council procedures in light of the repeal of the legislation limiting payments to cheques and the new NALC guidance and model Regulations on payment procedures.

47/14 Review of Council procedures and policies (a) Received: a report from the Clerk (see Minutes Annexe 43/14b). (b) Resolved: to approve the updated Publication Schedule to be published on the website (Minutes Annexe 47/14). (c) Noted: the Clerk would circulate Councillors to check their contact details and permission to publish these.

48/14 Review of assets and insurance (a) Received: the list of fixed assets (see Annexe 44/14b). (b) Received: the RFO’s report and recommendations on Insurance provision (Annexe 44/14 para 5). (c) Resolved: that the RFO accept the renewal quote from Aon for insurance cover from 1 June 2014.

49/14 Committees and membership 2014-15 (a) Planning Committee Resolved: to appoint to the Planning Committee for the period to the next Annual Meeting of the Council: the Chairman and vice-Chairman ex-officio, Cllr Mike Hubbard, Cllr Rodney Thompson, Cllr Mrs Jenny Ellerton and Cllr Mrs Stephanie Wilson (b) Neighbourhood Development Plan Steering Committee Received: updated terms of reference and constitution for the committee (Minutes Annexe 49/14b), Resolved: to appoint to the Neighbourhood Development Plan Steering Committee for the period to the next Annual Meeting of the Council: the Chairman and vice-Chairman ex-officio, Cllr Alan Bathurst, Cllr

HF&SP minutes 21/05/14 Volume VIII page 2 Kenneth Bemand, Cllr Mrs Stephanie Wilson, Iain Cholerton, Hugh Fowler-Wright, Mike Kimbery and Peter Stovold. (c) Community Week Committee Resolved: to appoint to the Community Week Committee for the period to the next Annual Meeting of the Council: the Chairman and vice-Chairman ex-officio, Cllr Mrs Steph Wilson, Mrs Pym Paxton, Mrs Jean Kimbery, Mr Mike Kimbery, Ms Louise Norman, Mrs Margaret Strangwood, Mrs Olwen Helme, Mrs Molly Firth, Mrs Mary Brown, Mrs Leila Jackson and any other member of the community wishing to attend meetings. (d) Finance Working Group Resolved: to appoint to the standing Finance Working Group for the period to the next Annual Meeting of the Council: the Responsible Financial Officer, Cllr Alan Bathurst and Cllr Richard Thomas, with the remit of advising the Council on (i) the draft budget for the following year, and (ii) the annual review of internal control procedures as required by audit regulations. (e) Lamb Working Party Resolved: to re-appoint as members of The Lamb Inn Working Party, with the power to co-opt other members as needed: Chairman and Vice-Chairman ex-officio, Cllr Michael Hubbard Cllr Alan Bathurst, the Clerk, Mr Paul Arnold, Mrs Cathy Hurley.

50/14 Membership of other bodies and representatives 2014-15 (a) Resolved: to continue the Council’s membership of HALC, SLCC, CPRE and Parish Online. Noted: Herefordshire Council sent all information directly to parish councils and not through HALC, which was a members’ organisation providing advice, support and training. (b) Resolved: to appoint Cllr Mrs Margaret Bemand and Cllr Michael Hubbard as representatives to Risbury Village Hall Committee and Stoke Prior Village Hall Committee respectively. (c) Resolved: to appoint Cllr William Jackson as Police Liaison Officer. Agreed: thanks to PCSO Steph Annette for her extensive support to the community. (d) Resolved: to appoint Cllr William Jackson as Humber Close Liaison Officer. (e) Resolved: to ask Richard Brown to serve as Footpaths Officer, with support from Cllr Jenny Ellerton, Cllr Jane Hinton and Philip Brown. Noted: the bridleways network required improvement, and the Council might benefit from joining the ‘P3’ devolved maintenance scheme which was being reviewed by Balfour Beatty. A report would be made to the next meeting.

51/14 Dates for Council meetings 2014-15 Resolved: to hold Council meetings in 2014-15 on the following dates, all at 7.30pm: Wednesday 16 July 2014 (Stoke Prior Village Hall) Wednesday 24 September 2014 (SPVH) – to be confirmed. Wednesday 19 November 2014 (Risbury Village Hall) Wednesday 21 January 2015 (RVH) Wednesday 18 March 2015 (RVH) Wednesday 20 May 2015 – Annual Council Meeting (SPVH).

52/14 Clerk’s Report Received: an oral report from the Clerk that all current matters were covered in his Annual Report received earlier. It was noted that the defaced signs at the A44 junction near The Drum had finally been replaced after many requests and reminders to Herefordshire Council.

53/14 Planning Committee Received: the minutes of the Planning Committee held on 19 March 2014 and (unapproved) 15 April 2014.

54/14 Neighbourhood Development Plan Steering Committee (a) Received: the minutes of the NDP Steering Committee held on 16 April 2014 and (unapproved) 28 April 2014. (b) Noted: separate NDP web-pages were being developed by a contractor appointed by the Committee, funded from the Lottery grant; the questionnaire was out to all residents and had involved a huge amount of work from committee members; the cost of printing the questionnaire had been specifically funded through the Lottery grant.

HF&SP minutes 21/05/14 Volume VIII page 3 55/14 Community Week Committee Received: the minutes of the Community Week Committee held on 29 April 2014.

56/15 General Financial Matters Resolved: to authorise payments as detailed in the RFO’s Report (Minutes Annexe 44/14a) and the direct-debit payment for renewal of the statutory Information Commissioner registration.

57/14 Parish and Town Council Member Allowances Received: a letter from Herefordshire Council concerning allowances for councillors (Minutes Annexe 57/14). Resolved: that the Council did not wish to introduce an allowances scheme for councillors.

58/14 Road-signage and naming (a) Resolved: that Herefordshire Council be asked to place No Through-Road signs at the entrance to Poplands Lane in Risbury, and to replace the missing signs from the entrance to Wickton Lane. (b) Agreed: that the Clerk would circulate residents of the U94007 cul-de-sac in Stoke Prior (‘Stoke Prior Service Road’) about whether they wished to re-name this road, and the Clerk would continue to look into the possible naming of the C1055/C1110 at Blackwardine.

59/14 District Councillor’s report (a) Received: District Councillor Millar’s report for April 2014 (Minutes Annexe 59/14). (b) Received: an oral report from Cllr Millar on current matters: Herefordshire Childrens’ Services were undergoing a further Ofsted inspection; the transport consultation had concluded and the 426 bus service from Bodenham to Leominster was likely to be reduced – parish councils affected were urged to talk to Leominster Community Transport about how to mitigate this; there were two vacancies on Herefordshire Council following the death of two members; individual electoral registration would be introduced in 2014-15 involving checks of identity to tackle voting fraud; information from the Planning Department indicated that the proposed approved wind turbine at Buckland was likely to be constructed; a Ward meeting of parish council chairs and clerks was being arranged for June or July.

60/14 Matters for information and future business (a) Noted: circulars sent to the Council (already circulated or on the table): (i) Childrens’ Wellbeing stakeholder event (19/03/14) (ii) Leaving letter from Supt Ivan Powell (28/03/14) (iii) Highways investments – planned works (28/03/14) (iv) Invitation to 13 May meeting with Leader & CE of Herefordshire Council (15/04/14) (v) Revised guidance on Councillors’ interests (17/04/14) (vi) Balfour Beatty Annual Plan presentation from 23 April briefing (03/05/14) (vii) CPRE Fieldwork Spring 2014 magazine (03/05/14) (viii) Council Tax information leaflet 2014-15 (03/05/14) (ix) Bus Service Consultation report and proposals (05/05/14) (x) CPRE Countryside Voice Spring 2014 magazine (on the table).

(b) Noted: notice of the formal public pre-submission consultation period (22 May to 3 July 2014) on the Local Plan’s Core Strategy, which would precede the public inspection and intended formal adoption of this. The Council had previously submitted comments on the Core Strategy in 2013.

The meeting closed at 9.48pm.

Signed (Chairman) ...... Date ......

HF&SP minutes 21/05/14 Volume VIII page 4